But with their attendance at the lowest it’s been for more than a decade after 13 home starts, the Ottawa Senators are undoubtedly hoping the return of Daniel Alfredsson in a Detroit Red Wings uniform to the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon will at least give Ottawa hockey fans a reason to start showing up in greater numbers.

Owner Eugene Melnyk has said the team will deliver a pre-game video tribute to its former captain somewhere between the national anthems and puck drop.

“Hopefully, everyone gets to their seats early and watches,” Melnyk said in an Ottawa radio interview this week. “We now have a new captain, new team and all we can do is wish Daniel the best.

“We’re going to give him his due recognition.”

Alfredsson will return to see his former club struggling both on the ice and, curiously enough, at the gate in his absence. With Melnyk already claiming annual losses of $10 million, Senators attendance has fallen this year to an average of 17,500 per game from 19,408 a season ago.

A disappointing 17,931 fans turned out on Thursday night for Vancouver as the Sens dropped a 5-2 decision, yet another frustrating result and gate for a team that has won two games in a row only once this season.

If it makes Paul Maclean and Co. feel any better, they’ve got lots of Canadian company in their dissatisfaction. Indeed, most Canadian teams seem unhappy these days despite the fact NHL franchises north of the border are generally riding high in terms of the business of the game.

Vancouver had lost seven of eight before beating the Sens; the Leafs got whacked by Columbus early in the week and then blew a lead in Pittsburgh; Winnipeg can’t seem to get any traction at all out west; both the Oilers and Flames are facing long, long seasons.

Only in Montreal where the Habs have won four straight is there any sense of real contentment, and that could vanish with a loss to Toronto on Saturday night.

While the Senators have beaten Detroit twice in two tries this season — Alfredsson wasn’t in uniform for the second defeat — this is hardly the state in which the Ottawa squad wanted to find itself this weekend.

The response to the 40-year-old Alfredsson might be interesting, particularly as he made it clear he was joining Detroit as a free agent because he believed the Wings had a better chance at the Stanley Cup this season than Ottawa. That, of course, came after his infamous “probably not” comment last spring in the post-season when asked if the Senators had any chance of fighting back from a playoff deficit.

Hardly helpful in a town where votes of non-confidence are anything but ignored.

Still, it would be a shocker if he received a negative response on Sunday. People have a way of forgiving and forgetting the perceived transgressions of their heroes, as witnessed earlier this season when Pavel Bure returned to Vancouver to have his No. 10 retired.

Alfredsson has only four goals in 21 games for the Wings. But Detroit sits higher in the league standings than does Ottawa, as does Anaheim, the team that peddled Bobby Ryan east in the wake of Alfredsson’s departure to give the Sens a new scoring star.

That trade cost Ottawa two young players and a first-round pick next June, and while Ryan had 13 goals going into a game with Columbus on Friday night, there’s a sense he has yet to really click with the rest of the lineup.

New captain Jason Spezza, meanwhile, has points but is a big minus. Former Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson leads all NHL blueliners in scoring, but overall the Sens haven’t played with the same industriousness as they did last season.

Former first-round pick Jared Cowan was a healthy scratch Thursday against the Canucks, while goalie Craig Anderson has allowed three or more goals in 11 of his 17 games and was yanked in the loss to Vancouver.

Anderson’s stats of a .894 save percentage and 3.51 goals-against average pale in comparison to last year when he was superb with a .941 save percentage and 1.69 average.

The Sens are surely one of the NHL’s mystery teams so far this season, but certainly inconsistent goaltending and poor defensive play — a fall from No. 2 to No. 27 in goals-allowed — offer clues as to what ails the team.

“Until we make it painful to go into that area teams are going to take liberties on us and get quality shots,” said winger Clarke MacArthur. “Until we start putting guys on their butt, things aren’t going to change.”

So far, the Sens seem to miss Alfredsson terribly, perhaps less his offensive production than his presence and leadership.

Are fans staying away in protest, or because they miss him too?

Well, they can see him again on Sunday. Cheer him if they want.

Melnyk would just like them to show up.

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